Why Did Lil’ Kim Go to Jail?

Rapper Lil’ Kim is excited to be one of the contestants on the new season of US TV’s Dancing With The Stars - because of the show’s popularity in prison.

The “Lady Marmalade” crooner was jailed for just over a year in 2005 after being convicted of perjury in a New York Shoot out in 2001. She spent her time in the Philadelphia detention centre for lying to a federal grand jury about a shoot out in a Manhattan radio station. Lil’ Kim faces up to 20 years because she was found guilty of three counts of perjury and one count of conspiracy with a a co-defendant. Each of the four counts carried a maximum five-year prison time.

In jail Kim grew fond of the reality show and other inmates encouraged her to take part in it. Speaking of it she says, “I’m a huge fan! When I was in prison, me and my girls used to watch it. My girls were like, ‘Kim, you need to be on that show.’ In prison you have to all agree what shows you watch. If we can’t agree, it doesn’t get watched. Everyone watched it faithfully. It’s like the number one show in prison! We watched it faithfully and we were so into it.”

Lil’ Kim said she was glad she was paired with last years Dancing With The Stars champion Derek Hough as her dancing partner on the show. She said, “I prayed and was hoping to have Derek as my partner. When those doors opened and I saw him, I was like ‘Yes!’”